This film depicts the encounters of a pair of other-world spirits in San Francisco. Kerwin Berk directed the film and stars Hiroshi Kashiwagi as Tenshi, an obnoxious 400-year-old spirit from old Japan who has a foul mouth and a propensity for petty theft, and Wendy Woo as Lucy, his new apprentice. The film mixes a number of languages and subtitles most of the non-English dialog.
The constraints of a very low budget makes the cast also be part of the crew, and some of the production is uneven. This characteristic of low-budget independent films seems to correlate highly with the use of lower-end editing tools and techniques. Despite the challenges, the film was entertaining.
Tenshi has been charged with watching over the residents of Japantown, which he does with all the grace of a drunken sumo wrestler singing karaoke. Despite this he’s able to keep things running on course most of the time but it’s always a challenge, never easy. Complicating matters is his new apprentice.
The universe unfolds a little differently in Japantown. It operates in a way you couldn’t possibly comprehend. But there is a method to its madness and for the most part it runs as smoothly as a Tokyo train station. However, every once in a great while, it needs a little help. Keeping the area running smoothly mainly calls for getting couples together.
Lucy is a naïve woman wearing a red dress who stepped right out of the 1940s into the modern world. She’s unsure of the year, her surroundings and her new role in the universe but she’s got a good heart and is a quick learner. Unfortunately, Tenshi is her only teacher.
Together, these two unseen spirits wander in and out of the lives of Japantown residents, trying to keep the universe in order. They are able to interact with the people and objects in the world, but cannot be seen by living people. The two will irreparably change and connect the lives of dozens of people – whether they like it or not.
The movie is a series of love stories that seem completely disconnected at first, except by the presence of the spirits. Tenshi tells Lucy that things aren’t always as they seem and gives her a hard time. Things just don’t seem to be going according to plan as the residents of Japantown go about their lives.
After the introductory scenes, the spirits force "chance" encounters between Claire and Hank. They knew each other 20 years ago but had a falling out when Hank stole an antique cahs register that Claire's father was rebuilding. When they two finally get together, Claire is hesitant due to the history, but Hank professes that he has changed.
He says that he worked for an Internet company that is no longer around, and now works for an international aid organization. The spirits help by stealing a business card from Claire's purse and putting it into Hank's lunch bag. Hank gets a phone call and talks deals and deliveries. Claire decides that Hank is still in the drug business and storms out.
Helen is a anime fanatic who has to be the first in line for the midnight showing of a show of her favorite character. After a while, her friends Sandra and Jennifer come by and give her a bad time about not having a life and her need to be a bitch. Helen brushes them off and demands someone get her a coffee. A while later, Guy comes by and asks if he could trade places for the first in line position.
Helen refuses and makes some rude comments about Guy's girlfriend, who is supposed to come later. When the girlfriend texts Guy that she cannot make it, Helen goes through a told you so routine. As other start to line up to for the show, Guy asks Jennifer and Sandra to help resolve the issue. They propose a trivia contest and Helen loses, but Guy later notes that her answer was correct.
Guy and Helen start talking about the anime character and find that they have a lot of common interests. Sandra and Jennifer start making comments about the two getting together, and the spirits are hard at work to make the couple get together.
Raoul is an art student from South America who only speaks Spanish. Tsukiko sees him making sketches and thinks that he is very talented. The problem is that Tsukiko is a visiting student from Japan who only speaks Japanese. The two try to interact, and are really on the same wavelength, but the language issues are too high a barrier. The spirits try to push the two together, and Tenshi steals Raoul's iPod.
After working hard to get the various couples together, Lucy goes to a nursing home. There, she interacts with an old lady who talks back to her and sees her. Since the old lady is dead, she can see the spirits. The two talk, and Lucy finds that the old lady is her younger sister, who misses Lucy. They talk about their lives and how Lucy's early demise forced Rose to face the world differently. Since Rose doesn’t realize that she is dead, she talks to Lucy as a friendly young visitor.
Stanley is a retired person who is planning to go on a road trip with his friends, Ken and Jerry. The spirits induce another "chance" encounter with Iris, and Stanley fumbles through the meeting. After failing to say anything meaningful, even though he likes Iris, he goes back to talking with Ken and Jerry.
Later, Phil, Stanley's son, confronts Stanley about aging, dating, and moving on from his mother's death. The spirits offer talking points and try to help Phil convince Stanley that he should tell Iris how he really feels about her and overlook their differences in relative status for a chance for togetherness.
Everyone goes to Benkyodo, a confectionary shop. The owner and head waitress is Juanita. She tries to manage the cook and make her customers feel at home. The spirits maneuver Raoul to the shop and show him the help wanted sign. He enters and starts tot ask about the job and finds that Juanita speaks Spanish. They negotiate a position and he is to start a new job tomorrow. When Raoul hears Juanita talking to customers in Japanese, he asks her to teach him some of the language so he might have a chance to meet up and get together with Tsukiko.
Claire comes into the shop and remembers Juanita from high school. They talk about their lives and Juanita asks if Claire has seen Hank. Claire says that she saw him, but he is acting very strange. Juanita tells her that Hank was in an auto accident and almost died. Then he started an Internet company that got bought out but a bigger company. Since his success in the Web world, he now runs a relief organization in Thailand. She says that Hank is a really good person and cares about other people, but has problems relating to individuals because he accident caused some brain damage. Claire runs out to try to find Hank.
Michelle and Harold are discussing the relationship of the universe. The spirits get them to consider that everything is a metaphor, and life ia like a bowl of ramen. This discussion goes for a while and then the two go out to go to a movie.
Jerry and Ken are driving to pick up Stanley. Raoul is happily going about his business and notices that his iPod is missing. He starts looking for the player and puts his portfolio down .Lucy then grabs the iPod from Tenshi and throws it into the street where Raoul sees it. He bends over to pick it up when Ken's car hits him. Hank comes quickly and tires to help revive Raoul.
Claire sees Hank in a take-charge mode trying to help a stranger. Stanley saw his friends hit Raoul and starts to wonder about going on a trip with these guys. He sees Iris and starts to talk to her as a person for the first time. Guy and Helen are taking a break from the movie line and come over to help. Raoul sees the spirits and asks them what is going on. He sees everyone trying to revive him and asks what can he do? The spirits respond that the next part depends upon him, so he goes back into his body and comes to. Just then, Tsukiko comes by and he says hello (ohaiyo gozaimas) to her.
After all of the couples find their special person, Lucy grabs Tenshi's hand and says, let's go take care of more people. The spirits have accomplished their tasks for the morning and got a lot of people to get together.